GlennMagusHarvey

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to retrogaming in Any games you wish you grew up with?

I think there’s something to be said that there’s a certain level of intellectual maturity that’s needed to truly enjoy these games.

I grew up with NES Metroid, and despite having read the manual many times over, as a kid I never made sense of the game. I could play it, I could insert the Justin Bailey code, I could move around and do stuff, but I never truly understood what I was meant to do. I stumbled into Tourian one day and promptly got pwned by metroids, and then I never found my way back until I was an adult.

The second metroidvania game I played was Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. Maybe it’s an easier game – it’s certainly less confusingly open-ended than Metroid 1 – but I absolutely loved the experience. I deeply appreciated the narrative journey of being trapped in this castle, full of weirdness and twisty passages that were slightly off from each other, having the mid-game bombshell dropped on me, and piecing together a mystery until I was able to find out what was going on. I played it all night, and in a story I like to tell people, the morning after I beat it (and finally got the best ending), as the sun came out, I put on the Aloha de Chocobo music from Final Fantasy IX and it was the most glorious feeling. But this depended on me understanding that I was immersed in a maze, and understanding what I needed to do to find my way out of the maze.

And I’ve been enjoying this genre since.

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to patientgamers in Anyone else playing on a 5-20 year lag?

I’m usually playing older games of some sort. There’s retro games, like those from the 32-bit era and before, but I also play…old-ish games, ones that were released within the last decade or two. Just last year I began playing Tokyo Xanadu eX+, which was released in 2017 (albeit as the definitive version of a 2015 game).

I think a number of the indie games I play are generally newer. Though, given my tastes, many of them tend to be games designed to evoke some sort of similarity to those older styles of games. So I guess it’s an interesting question whether they count as “retro” or not.

That said, given that I pretty much only use store-bought laptops (and not of the “gaming” variety), my hardware means that I’m much better off playing older games anyway. “Newer old” games can probably still run, depending on the game, but some may be choppy and I can probably wait on those.

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to retrogaming in Retro Urban Fantasy games?

For whatever reason, I’m scratching my brain and can only come up with three urban fantasy games plus a franchise I’m not too personally familiar with. The three games are Underrail (an indie game from some years back, which I bought back when it wasn’t even fully released yet, but still have yet to play), Operation Abyss (a dungeon crawler with modern-ish graphics but gameplay that definitely takes after old Wizardry games; the theming leans somewhat more on the science-fantasy side), and Tokyo Xanadu eX+ (an action JRPG that’s something of a cross between Trails of Cold Steel and modern Ys games). The franchise is the Persona series, none of which I’ve played, and which Tokyo Xanadu gets compared to despite not being all that similar under the hood.

I don’t think any of these are what you’re looking for, but I hope they may help you on your search.

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to retrogaming in What is the best SNES emulation app for android?

Oh, I actually meant “real” saves, done from in-game. It’s like Lemuroid had some chance of not updating the save file. I never figured out why this might happen. (Maybe it has something to do with not properly generating a new state on exit and having old states wipe newer saves?)

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to retrogaming in What is the best SNES emulation app for android?

I’ve used Lemuroid for Game Boy emulation before but it had trouble remembering my saves for some reason. It’d sometimes forget that I’d saved recently, and so I’d load and find myself in an earlier save. Also on a Samsung phone, albeit an A-series. Do you know what might have caused this?

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to retrogaming in Console Repair is now on lemmy.world

I wasn’t part of the original but I subscribed anyway. Thanks for creating the community!

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to gaming in Where to start with final fantasy?

You’ll sorta have to pick based on your tastes, but here’s a quick rundown from what I know. I don’t know all of them equally well (I know the older ones better), but here goes anyway. IMPORTANT: Games are not connected story-wise unless otherwise noted.

• FF1 - The beginning of the series. Barebones and open-ended by modern standards. You can think of this like a rudimentary videogame implementation of a D&D campaign, where you choose a party based on character classes and then go do quests to save the world.
• FF2 - The series’s first attempt at telling a significant story. Gameplay got weird though. Not recommended.
• FF3 - Character classes are back, but now there are more, and you can switch between them. Also there’s still something of a story too. The most polished NES release.
• FF4 - First SNES FF game. They tried telling a story, but it’s more complex and has more twists and turns (maybe too many? lol), and the gameplay is much better than before. Characters have fixed character classes and well-defined, plot-integrated roles. Your party can change frequently as the story progresses! Also introduces some other innovations like Active Time Battle. Has a ton of different versions, even more so than the other retro games.
• FF5 - A more straightforward (but definitely still solid) plot, but with an even more expanded character class system that you can switch around. And now you can combine abilities from different classes! Definitely recommended if you want to mess with creative combinations of abilities.
• FF6 - Much more complex and involved plot. Characters have somewhat fixed classes but the magic system is now more flexibly accessible. The first time the series went more steampunk/sci-fi instead of only doing traditional fantasy. (Contrast the Dragon Quest series which has kept on doing the usual Medieval European High Fantasy thing since forever.) Definitely recommended.
• FF7 - First 3D installment, with full-motion video cutscenes and all. Lots of steampunk/sci-fi and other influences. Character ability systems are still a hybrid of class-like features and complex customizability. This was many people’s first FF game, though fans of older games like to make fun of it for being overrated. The remake apparently changes the story somewhat (and might even secretly be a sequel or something?).
• FF8 - Went more heavily into the storytelling department. I don’t know much about this but for some reason fans of older games tend to dislike it. (Maybe the gameplay isn’t as great?)
• FF9 - Seems like a “neoclassical” FF in that it went back to its more fantasy-based roots. But it’s still 3D and you still get those prettyboys and such.
• FF10 - I don’t know this one that well but it seems to be solidly regarded. Also the first game to get a direct sequel, “FFX-2”. First PS2 FF game. Minigames and complex skill systems galore, from what I’ve heard.
• FF11 - An MMORPG, surprisingly. Something of a weird turn for the franchise, but it has its fans and apparently it’s still active.
• FF12 - I think this is the first mainline (and non-MMO) FF game to have real-time action for battles.
• FF13 - A massive three-part thing that’s very story-intensive. Apparently some people love the lead character while others hate her.
• FF14 - Another MMORPG. Initially it was a flop. Then they scrapped the game and brought it back significantly better and it’s now quite popular.
• FF15 - Apparently some dudes go on a roadtrip or something. I remember when the reveal was notable because holy crap you’re driving a car in an FF game. Besides this, I dunno much.
• FF16 - I even more dunno lol. If I recall correctly it may have something to do with being something of a prequel to FF1 but I’m not sure if I’m remembering the right thing.

Other FF games:

• FF Legend (1, 2, and 3) - Actually from the SaGa series but rebranded to sell better. Choose your species, and then there’s turn-based battles. For Game Boy. May be a bit arcane by modern standards.
• FF Adventure - Actually the first Seiken Densetsu game (Secret of Mana is the second). Action RPG for Game Boy.
• FF Tactics - Strategy RPG on PS1 with a quite complex story (lots of political intrigue and more). Very well-regarded. Original version has a somewhat iffy translation (leading to some unintentionally hilarious lines); PSP remake “War of the Lions” cleans it up. Character class system is here too.
• FF Tactics Advance - Strategy RPG on GBA. Somewhat similar gameplay but the story is totally different and more lighthearted.
• FF Tactics A2 - Strategy RPG on DS. Again, a different story.
• FF: the Four Heroes of Light - I don’t know much but I’ve heard this is a spiritual predecessor to the Bravely Default series.
• Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon - A game in the Mystery Dungeon franchise.
• Dissidia - Apparently it’s an FF fighting game.
• World of FF - Apparently it’s like a Pokémon game?
• Kingdom Hearts - this franchise is FF-style characters (and sometimes actual FF characters?) crossed with Disney IPs. Somehow this is popular.
• Chrono Trigger - I’m including this since it once shared a disc release with an FF game. Very well-regarded first game in the unrelated Chrono franchise.

If I didn’t mention anything, I probably don’t know anything about it.

Also, sadly, none of them are available DRM-free (legally, anyway), but what can ya do.

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to android in As Twitter flounders, Mastodon refreshes its official app for Android users

One way is to just follow hashtags and see whoposts to them. Since hashtags are basically the de facto way to find relevant content on Mastodon, not just a marketing tool like on Twitter. And then once you see who posts interesting stuff, you can then add them to your follows.

There’s also some sites that list users by topics of interesting such as fedi.directory and communitywiki.org/trunk .

Another way is to check out instances that talk about things you’re interested in. There are several websites that list them but here is a shorter list: fedi.gardenCheck out their feeds and see who posts things you’re interested in.

Furthermore, you can follow a.gup.pe accounts, called “groups”, which work similarly to hashtags. Each a.gup.pe account is basically a repeater that boosts (i.e. “retweets”) every post that pings it, so that anyone following it gets that post. For example, I follow @climate, and every time someone pings that (it’s like including a hashtag), it’ll boost that post and I’ll see it too.

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to android in As Twitter flounders, Mastodon refreshes its official app for Android users

I’ve heard that the official app was initially thrown together at some point around the time Mastodon first blew up due to Twitter…uh, blowing up, in a different sense. Basically, “it would really help onboarding if people had an obvious choice of official app to use”. At least, that’s what I’ve heard. Never verified this myself.

Tusky is definitely decent though.

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to retrogaming in Wish I had more time to finish some JRPGs

mood

What system is this, by the way?

GlennMagusHarvey , 1 year ago to gaming in Ruins & Riches - a single-player Ultima Online experience.

The idea of an MMORPG experience but in single-player makes me think of a game I found out about years ago but have yet to pick up (maybe I’ll get it next time it goes on sale on DLsite), called Tkl Online, which is also an implementation of this concept. And I guess there’s also things like the .hack// games and the Sword Art Online games.

I haven’t really played MMORPGs myself but I’ve been curious what it’s like. Well, I have played one MMORPG, but didn’t really enjoy it that much, so I’m curious what an idealized MMORPG experience is like.